After a few frustrating hours or heat gunning and bending the front mandible of my Boba helmet, I've just about given up. I'd really appreciate any help I could get in regards to fixing a warped helmet. Essentially, after I used the Bondo fiberglass repair kit on my helmet, the L/H mandible warped upward and at an angle, and I think the other side is like that too. On top of that, I COMPLETELY ruined my T-visor.com visor that just came in the mail Wed. The warped shape completely threw off where I thought I needed to drill and now I have a useless piece of plastic.

I'm really out of ideas on this one folks. If anyone could put in their .02, that would be fantastic.

A few questions: What is the helmet made of? Can you post pix of the inside of the helmet or e-mail them to me?

As for the visor, consider buying a welding shield from a welding supply shop. I think you need grade 5 or whatever the darkest is. You can get a grey or deep green one. Green for Pre-Production & ESB, grey for ROTJ. You can then cut the face shield to fit your particular helmet dimensions.

May 27, 2009

cojake

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

If I recall, that was a resin Fang helmet? If it were mine, I would put the whole helmet on a cookie sheet and throw it in the oven for a few minutes at about 200 degrees and try and finesse it back in shape. I did this to my MR helmet to put a new visor in it to fix the pinch problem. You can also heat up your T visor and bend it to the shape of your bucket too.

May 27, 2009

GCNgamer128

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

I'd stick with the acrylic visor like you have there, just pick up another one. I hate the welding visors because they are flimsy, and don't add any real strength to the helmet. I also believe that the ESB Hero was smoked, and I don't see any on screen evidence to prove me wrong.

Other than that... I'd recommend getting a heat gun or boiling up some water, and heating up the helmet, then shape it into place as you see fit. If it's fiberglass, you may need the heatgun; boiling water may not be sufficient.

May 27, 2009

Mike M.

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

his helmet is a sgt fang with bondo fiberglass reinforcement.

May 27, 2009

Jangos kid

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

Yeah, don't give up on it. When I fixed my MR, I actually did very little heating. I just made sure I had my T-nuts installed very well, and had the holes in the visor exactly where I wanted them. ( I also had to wreck one visor before I got it right) Then I just slowly tightened the bolts in and it pretty much just pulled it into the shape i wanted. Again, it soes put alot of strain on the T-nuts though, and I did actually pull a few loose the first time around, but after I got them in there really good, It actually worked quite well. Still had to do some heating, but not much. Good luck.
D

May 27, 2009

Boba Swede

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

As the others have said. Heat is the only way to ammend the warping. Though i forsee a problem with getting the helmet to "accept" the new shape while cooling down. You will either have to hold the mandibles in place with your hands or insert a "dummy face sheild" that will seperate the mandibles for you while the resin cools.

So what you might do is to get another T peice and drill holes where they should be. Then heat the helmet upp and insert the T-peice and force the mandibles into right shape using the bolts on the inside and holes on the T-peice.

Jan 15, 2010

Sirius Cruger

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

I feel bad bringing up an old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one.

I've got the same problem, but my helmet is completely painted. I have a spare T-visor, so I'm not worried about ruining my current one. but what's the chance of ruining the paintjob if I use a heat gun on the inside?
Thanks!

Jan 15, 2010

Mike M.

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

Quote:

Sirius_Cruger said:

I feel bad bringing up an old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one.

I've got the same problem, but my helmet is completely painted. I have a spare T-visor, so I'm not worried about ruining my current one. but what's the chance of ruining the paintjob if I use a heat gun on the inside?
Thanks!

it "should" be ok, as long as you're not attempting any dramatic reconstructive surgery. the paint should hold up with a little bit of flex, but watch it carefully when you're trying to get it into it's new shape. if the paint starts to stretch and crack you should probably stop right there.

Jan 15, 2010

Bobby Fett UK

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

I just did a repair like this, maybe not quite as drastic, pretty much the mandibles had sunk into the bucket, if you follow, anyway I heated it up on my aga (cast iron stove) a gentle heat, nothing to savage, using bare hands and moving the areas I wanted soft. Now this is the part that may help, I put the helmet face down on a flat hard surface to get the front flat, whist holding the opening pretty square.

My best advice is let it cool right down, when you think it is cool go another few minutes or it will try and return to the warped shape and if it needs it go at areas at a time, may be the pictures but is the brow warped too? I would fix that first if so.

Hope that helps and let us know how you get on.

Jan 15, 2010

Sirius Cruger

Re: Help! How to fix warped mandibles?

yeah... that didn't work too well. nothing damaged forever, but now I need to re-paint.